Hate to play 20 (or more) questions but....

[stevebythebay]

Coming at this from decades of experience: from pan to popcorn popper (with many odd stops in between) and finally Hottop. So...

I guess this comes down to asking why do you want to take on this challenge? Then you've got to start considering just where you're going to put the little beast (how much smoke can you, and possibly your neighbours, and smoke detector live with?). How much money and time are you willing to devote? Assuming you're still game then it's onto how large or really how small a batch size do you want? Are you picky about roasting technology (drum versus fluid bed)? Are your target roasts for a basic brew or are you after espresso? Yadda, etc., whatever....

So what I'm "asking" the prospective purchaser is something more akin to a session with Freud (OK, so I'm joking, but just a little).

One should not take on this adventure lightly. And though we're not looking into climbing Everest or going to the moon it's still not the process of investigating the purchase of a toaster!

I suppose it would be nice to build a little program that leads to the right answer, but this is a road with many paths and much learning. Mistakes made lead to learning, and that's why I personally chose the path to coffee nirvana via home roasting (pardon the zenshit).

[Sweet Maria's]

I like your thoughts on this, but could also go the opposite way with it. In other words, why not take Home Coffee Roasting VERY lightly, since you can actually do it with minimal investment ( a little time, mainly). Specifically, I refer to a thrift store popcorn popper for under $5 (or ask a few friends/relatives and probably someone has one) and 2-3 Lbs of green coffee. That's like $25 or less total, an hour digging up a popper/roaster and let's say an hour max to set up your roaster on a porch or deck or kitchen with a fan. ... and there's a pretty good chance you will, at a minimum, experience fresher coffee than ever before, even if you don't nail the roast on the head. The main points to follow are:

1 Best to select the "right" type of air popcorn popper (http://www.sweetmarias.com/airpop/airpopdesign.php) although the other types work, but tend to roast too fast or unevenly. The "holy grail" is the original Poppery from West Bend. Check out what the sell for on eBay - like $40-$60! Still readily available at thrift stores for $2-$5 if you look.

2. Don't overload the popper with coffee. Load it up until it bogs down a little initially, but the coffee still spins in the heat chamber. If the coffee is not moving well, it will scorch. Tilt the popper side to side a bit to agitate the coffee until it loses some of its water weight and spins well. Here's our full air popper tip sheet: http://www.sweetmarias.com/airpop/airpopmethod.php

3. Try to cool the coffee to room temperature quickly, in a colander ideally, or tossing it between 2 colanders, even better. Let the coffee rest overnight after roasting. It improves a bit, but of course, it's fine if you can't wait...

[Coffehound]

I agree with Tom's post. His description is almost exactly how I started. $10 on a popper from Walgreens, $15 in greens and a bit of time. Figured I'd wasted $30 on stranger and more obviously worthless things over the years. That was years and thousands of dollars ago. I've moved through the roasters since then as money and experience allowed. Batch size and lack of control drove me from a popper to an I-roast. Batch size again pushed me into the Stir-Crazy/Turbo Oven group. I worked with that for almost 4 years. In the meantime the other equipment upgraded...tossed out the electric brewer and switched to FP, bought my first burr grinder, an Andreja Premium, and then shortly after a Rocky. Just last week I bought a Hottop (the used one from SMs sale page). So that's the fourth roaster and only the second that's actually designed to roast coffee. This time the driving reasons were control over the roast and the better mixing of the drum. Two roasts in and I already like it. Just this morning I woke up wondering what the next upgrade would be...ginder?

Demian

[dustingm]

Batch size is exactly why I'm now experimenting with the heat gun/dog bowl method. I loves me my air popper, but I wish I could get more than a scant 2/3 cup of green beans in one batch.

Tried the heat gun for the first time this weekend and I think I scorched the batch. Got a bitter overtone to my "mongrel blend" that I've never had before.